A Sorrowclaw noble sits in quiet contemplation outside a Kheteratan temple.
Sorrowclaw Gnolls are an ethnic group of gnolls native to Sarhal. They have lived there for many millennia, being one of the oldest known gnollish ethnicities. Sorrowclaws have reigned and ruled in and around The Sorrow for much of its history.
History[]
Reign of Krah[]
The first recorded mention of the Sorrowclaw gnolls is from 1152 BA, in the form of one of the most infamous gnolls in history: the packmaster Krah, who united the first true gnollish army behind him and terrorized towns and settlements along The Sorrow. His success drew many gnolls to him, rallying a larger and larger force, culminating in the sacking of Golkora, and terminating with his defeat at the hands of the Kheteratan army.
When the members of his army scattered, many made their way south with him to raid and terrorize Horashesh, whilst many more went east to settle in Bulwar. Some, however, remained around The Sorrow and the surrounding savannah and desert for many years, raiding and enslaving neighboring peoples.
Reign of Xhazobine[]
This would remain the case for many centuries, around 500 years, until the First Xhazobine, a gnoll wielding immense and terrifying demonic powers, invaded Kheterata and slew its god-king Elikhet. This act annihilated the Kheteratan central government and threw it into chaos, allowing the Xhazobine to push far enough south to make contact with the Sorrowclaw gnolls, and spread the word of the Xhazobkult, a religion focused around dark bargains and sacrifices to demons.
When contact was made, the Xhazobine recruited many Sorrowclaw gnolls, and spread the word of the Xhazobkult to them, which they would in large part follow until the foundation of Konolkhatep.
For many centuries after this point, the Sorrowclaw gnolls were divided between various squabbling and warring packs, who fought each other and the surrounding peoples in equal measure. This way of things was only ever disrupted by the rise and fall of nearby powers, and the occasional siren call of a Xhaz.
This balance continued until the rise of the Twin Xhaz’s, who conquered from the east of Sarhal to the west. They passed through The Sorrow in the 1240’s, upheaving the Sorrowclaw packs, with many of their great warriors marching to join them. The chaos this caused only began to subside with the death of the Twin Xhaz’s in 1253.
Reign of Grizaka[]
In 1438 the destinies of the Sorrowclaw gnollish peoples forever changed when, from a rather minor pack, the warlord Grizaka arose. In a meteoric and historic rise, she consolidated and unified the Sorrowclaw gnolls under the banner of Gnollakaz.
She pushed east in 1439, conquering into the lands of Irsmahapan. The battle which occurred at Masiluri resulted in the southern armies being utterly annihilated. The nobility of Tijarikhet was obliterated and the region shattered into squabbling city-states.
In the early 1440’s, Grizaka began to march north into Kheterata proper, joined by Viakkoc, who invaded from the west. The two armies met in 1442 at the gates of Kheterat, were they ended up squabbling and clashing. This resulted in a two day long battle, which only ended when Grizaka marshaled her incredible magical powers to strike down Viakkoc IX with a massive gout of shamanistic fire magic.
For Viakkok, this loss disintegrated the wider Viakkoc pack and sparked an eternal hatred in the pack towards the Sorrowclaw gnolls for their victory and the death of their packleader.
For the Sorrowclaws, this victory ended up meaning little, as the army of Grizaka was soon forced back by the Kheteratans. She returned to her pack’s core territories and announced that she planned to unify all gnolls under an empire unlike any before it. To this end, she declared herself Empress-of-Gnollkind and ordered the construction of a true capital for her people, which would become the city of Gnollakaz.
In her rule over the Irsmahapan, she diverged from many other gnollish leaders of her time with the integration of local humans into her administration, retaining the existing power structure and allowing them free worship so long as they continued to feed and shelter the Sorrowclaw gnollish armies. This policy set a trend of cultural acceptance that proved to significantly contribute to their later integration into Khetist society.
This is not to say they were especially kind; on the contrary, Sorrowclaw gold mines proved to be some of the most cruelly and brutally run dens of misery in all of Halann, burning through innocent lives to fund the conquests of Grizaka and the growing hubris and avarice of the Sorroclaw chieftains.
Girzaka’s conquests continued until, in a distinct display of hubris, she entered into the Great Pyramid to defile and devour the gods' corpses. She would never return. Fortunately for the Sorrowclaw people, she had raised her daughter Tavrar well to inherit power. It was Tavrar that went on to finalize the conquest of Kheterata by the 1500’s.
By this point, the Sorrowclaw people and the Khetists of The Sorrow had been living side by side for over half a century, and the cultural mingling was undeniable. Many of the Sorrowclaw gnolls began to turn away from their Xhazobkultist origins and proclaim that the Khet were living representatives of the ideal Sorrowclaw way of life - living in utter luxury and power - and sought to imitate them.
This caused a deep divide between the Khetist elements within the Sorrowclaw peoples and the Xhazobkultist traditionalists which slowly built and fermented, eventually exploding into the Dance of Demons with the death of Tavrar.
The Dance of Demons[]
This civil war placed two sisters against each other. Championing the causes of the Khetists was Kyztzehr. Opposing them and representing the Xhazobkultist elements was Xukret. Ultimately, Kyztzehr emerged victorious and proclaimed herself Guardian-of-The-Sorrow, declaring Elikhetism the official faith, cementing the shift towards Khetism in Sorrowclaw society, and the proclaiming birth of Konolkhatep.
As Konolkhatep expanded and endured, so did the reach and power of the Sorrowclaw gnolls, who found key positions within Kheteratan society, integrated and replaced the Ahati, mingled and integrated with the peoples of the former Kheteratan empire, and much more.
By the 1600’s, the Sorrowclaw gnolls were, by-in-large, heavily Kheterized, exempting the dispossessed members of the lower class, who remained in or turned back to their Xhazobkultist past. This divide came to a violent culmination with the rise of the Gunpowder Xhaz in 1663, which began its conquests in western Sarhal with a call to the remaining Xhazobkultists across Halann.
In 1677, civil war erupted as the last remaining Xhazobkultists among the Sorrowclaw rose up in support of the Gunpowder Xhaz, which invaded from the northwest. This marked a major upheaval in the society of Konolkhatep, and the Sorrowclaw people as a whole.
When the Gunpowder Xhaz was finally beaten back out of Konolkhatep in 1688, it cemented an end to the last lingering remnants of the Xhazobkultist origins of the Sorrowclaw gnolls, and ensured their place within Khetist society.
To this day, the Sorrowclaw gnolls remain the (arguably) dominant power in northern and central Sarhal.
Culture and Faith[]
As with many gnollish cultures, the Sorrowclaw gnolls were primarily matriarchal Xhazobkultists in the past, but have since shifted away from their origins with their extensive cultural contact with the Khetist peoples. In present times, the Sorrowclaw gnolls are characterized by their adherence to Elikhetism, a sharp wit, and a drive to achieve luxury.
Many members of the Sorrowclaw peoples remain in awe and envy of their Khet masters, aspiring to the heights of luxury and power they hold. This envy and admiration takes the form of a relentless dedication to the tenets of their faith and a relentless pursuit of wealth, taking great advantage of the bounty of The Sorrow, and the tight watch that the Ahati keep on trade routes and, in turn, the safety that is brought by such.
Self-aggrandisement is common in many gnollish cultures, but the Sorrowclaws have made an art form of it. Whether soldier, merchant, or priest, nothing is more important to a Sorrowclaw gnoll than their reputation. Though prideful and egotistical, the Sorrowclaws know that allowing the killing of rivals over the smallest slights would be disastrous for the pack. As a result, a way of non-violently resolving conflicts emerged within Sorrowclaw culture known as the Gremrabo (the "Insult War"). The Gremrabo sees two opposing gnolls invent increasingly outlandish insults about their opponent in front of an audience, with the first gnoll unable to respond to an insult being declared the loser. The importance of this practice became so respected by the gnolls, that on occasion Kheteratans were able to use Gremrabo to save their towns from an impending raid if they were unable to offer tribute. This practice remains common today, and is often now sensationalized for entertainment.
However, one cannot escape the legacy of cruelty that still suffuses aspects of their culture. Nowhere is this more evident than in the practice of ‘The Feast of the Hostages’ which takes the form of the abduction and holding of the Konolkhatepi tributary states firstborn children hostage, demanding constant and reliable tribute, lest they be devoured.
In addition, Konolkhatep remains one of the largest beating hearts of slavery across Halann. The peace on the trade routes was established because of a brutal centralization of the practice under the emperors of Konolkhatep, who carefully regulate it to their desires. Whilst no ‘Natural Citizen’ of the Kheteratan empire would be enslaved, other Sarhaly peoples were not so lucky. Most found themselves forced to attend to wealthy Sorrowclaw nobles who relished in the luxury and chance to imitate the Khet. Those who proved intelligent and talented found themselves shipped to the House of Golden Chains.
The House of Golden Chains is a part of the Konolkhatepi government which places thousands of slaves in administrative positions to help manage the endless tedium of bureaucracy. Konolkhatepi defenders often claimed that this practice was justified, as those slaves which proved especially talented were often afforded great luxuries.
Appearance[]
Sorrowclaw gnolls often appear stocky and quite well-built, boasting a reddish-brown coat of fur with dark spots across it. They also often sport a spiked crest of hair across their head and spine.